


Marina (Hero Mode)

by HungryLibrary



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Angst, Claustrophobia, F/F, Fluff, Gay, Panic Attack, SOME HAPPY FAMILY STUFF, Stuff, bc of pearlina of course, but a good part of this is also, fear of the dark, friends being great, warnings for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-08
Packaged: 2019-07-05 19:36:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15870348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HungryLibrary/pseuds/HungryLibrary
Summary: Marina is wearing her old armor without being a soldier, she's on a mission despite not being an agent. There's some unfinished business she's finally decided to see to.It's time to return to Octo Valley.





	Marina (Hero Mode)

She had never hacked the Octarian mainframe before. Which wasn’t a comment on how hard getting into it was, just that she’d never had a reason to try doing it.

Until now.

Clearing her throat Marina cupped a hand to the mic and did her best to follow the script.

“This is Marina Ida of Slimeskin Garrison, former chief engineer and WSU officer. There’s, um…”

Her hand paused over her laptop’s keyboard. Her fingers were trembling. Even with headphones on the low bassline still leaked in, tune trying to drown out her thoughts as they seeped in from the walls, Octavio’s music hovering over her like a ghost of the DJ himself.

_You are a solider fighting in a war. Obey, follow, and I will lead you to freedom-_

No.

She was only dressed as a solider for today and the only one she was really here to fight was  _him_ , to finish off the ghosts that still haunted every inch of this fake world.

As for the freedom he’d promised, that had only ever been a cage. It was time to show everyone the bars they’d been living behind.

“… There’s something you all need to see.”

Fingers trembling worse than before she tapped the last key.

The lights and holographic simulation screens in the service kettle went off. So did the speakers and Octavio’s music. Then, with a soft thrum, so did everything else in the underground.

The screams started immediately. 

Marina watched as the systems crashed, listened to the yells of confusion and panic echoing through the domes- Nearly a hundred generations who’d been raised with the knowledge that any loss of power could mean death… and they were suddenly finding themselves in the silence and the dark.

They weren’t the only ones scared. Marina fumbled to switch off her mic as a bubble of panic rose in her chest.

She needed a moment.

The darkness, the lack of the normal hum of power, it was terrifying even after all these years. She’d tried to prepared for it. After realizing it was the only way to be sure Octavio’s music would die, she’d done be best to be ready to face it.

Her best might not have been good enough. The trembling in her hands was spreading, climbing up her arms and catching in her throat.

Logically she knew she was safe. Rationally she understood there was enough air down here for several days even with the fans off line, but her lungs didn’t seem to believe it, and the walls were closing in-

A soft burst of static in her ear.

_“Yo Marina, you still there?”_

Pearl. Pearl’s voice.

It was automatic to want to answer her, the last ten hours had passed so cheerfully with them trading snark. Even when giving a heads up on approaching guards Pearl had made sure to keep up the silly chatter and help keep Marina calm.

She wasn’t calm now. Right now it was all she could do to let out a low whine.

_“Oh.”_

Pearl’s voice changed immediately. Mellowed and slowed.

_“Okay. Hey Reena, listen- it’s okay. Just shut your eyes for a second for me.”_

Pearl was falling back on a script too, one they’d worked out together in a dark that had been a lot less solid than this was.

_“Think about what your arms and legs are doing right now. Think about your heartbeats and your breathing.”_ More static as Pearl took a slow breath.  _“Match mine okay? Let’s breath in for four, just like usual. One. Two…”_

Curling in on herself Marina tried to listen to the instructions over the panicked roaring filling her head.

It wasn’t going to work this time. This was  _nothing_  like sitting in their bedroom with the lights off and curtains drawn- Even with her eyes closed Marina could  _feel_  the weight of the earth pressing down on her, could barely hear Pearl’s breathing over her own gasps- And when they’d practiced there had been no timer ticking, but now all of Octo Valley was waiting on her.

_“… four. Hold for five. One. Two. Three…”_

She couldn’t do this. She- Why had she thought she could do this? Why had she come back here at all!?

_“-Five. And out for eight- What?”_  

A muffled voice spoke up from underneath Pearl’s. This one sounded almost as tense as Marina felt, and was answered with the same reassuring tone.

_“No not you Eight, I meant the number. No, she’s cool, she’ll be okay. She’s got this.”_

No she didn’t. But…

Eight.

That was why she was here.  

 

* * *

  _Sometime Before, Somewhere Above_

* * *

 

Marina ran a fingertip down polished metal, frowning.

The feeling was familiar, cold and smooth, full of memories as she found a faint scratch or almost imperceptible dent. Things that told stories as surely as words on a page. And like the lines of a book they were just the same now as they had been a year ago.

The person reflected in the metal had changed though. Relaxed and soft, with all the edges worn down. And even with the frown they still looked generally happy…

For a moment Marina couldn’t recognize them at all.

“Um…”

The sound brought her out of her thoughts. She turned around.

Eight was standing in the doorway of the closet, the young Octoling wearing brand new clothes and hugging another familiar bundle of cloth and metal to their chest.

Sddenly Marina remembered what she was supposed to be doing. It had nothing to do with falling into old memories or strangely bleak moods.

Her hand dropped away.

“You can put them in here with mine if you want.” Pulling on a smile she gestured to the empty spot next to her armor. “Or keep them with you in your room, if that would make you feel safer-”

Eight shook their head vehemently and held out the bundle.

Marina laughed- She’d been like that when she’d first gotten her own clothes, too. Having any kind of uniform around, even one meant to protect you, suddenly stopped being bearable- It was honestly surprising she’d kept any of her old Octatian gear at all.

“Okay then.” Taking the pile from Eight she set it neatly besides her own. “They’ll be right here if you ever want them.”

Eight scrunched up their face, clearly skeptical.

“HEY!”

The shout easily from the direction of the kitchen, it was the sound of dangerously gleeful Pearl who was probably up to something. And if Marina knew Pearl at all then this new idea would probably involve-

“I know we’re supposed to be having like dinner or whatever, but who wants to find out about the wonders of mayo on toast!?”

-Mayonnaise.

Marina shuddered.

She shuddered again as Eight perked up, bright eyed and curious at the mention of surface food.  

“We’d better go help her with the food.” Marina sighed. Poor Eight would be learning about mayo the hard way, it seemed. “Before she covers every piece of bread in the house with that…  _stuff_. Again.”

Eight needed no prompting. Immediately they were scampering off towards the kitchen, following the sound of Pearl freestyling something about the ‘king of all condiments’.

Marina hung back for a second longer. Her eyes drifted over to the polished chest plate, the goggles and gloves folded on top and steel toed boots sitting just below.

For some reason looking at them made her feel… guilty.

Guilty over what, she wondered.

She was glad she’d left that life behind. Glad she’d left Octo Valley behind, and the Great Octo Weapons, and the Octarian military, and…

_And everyone else. All the other Octolings, including young cadets like Eight._

Marina flinched.

“Inkopolis to Marina!”

Pearl’s yell cut short the queasy thought. Jolting back to reality Marina realized her hand had reached out to the armor again. She snatched it back quickly, pressing her sweaty palm over her wildly beating hearts. 

Pearl, thank cod for her, went on obliviously.

“Are you gonna make yourself something to eat or do I get to choose for you!?”

The closet door slammed with a bit more force than necessary as Marina hurried to shut it.

“It’s not nice to threaten people, Pearlie!” She called back, sinking gratefully into the easy banter. “And if I find even a  _speck_  of mayo on my sandwich, so help me cod, I swear you’ll be spending the night on one of the couches!”

A burst of laughter helped ease the guilt that stabbed into Marina’s gut as she turned away from the closet, but feeling refused to fade completely.

Possibly because she deserved to feel it.

 

* * *

 

Shaking her head Pearl watched as Eight stuck their mouth under the kitchen faucet and started gulping desperately.

“Man.” Picking up the spoon of mayo the Octoling had dropped she gave it a forlorn look. “I can’t believe I’m still the only one in this house with any good taste...”

Marina smirked. “Doesn’t the fact that I’m dating you mean I have  _some_ good taste?” She couldn’t help but tease.

Pearl heaved an exaggerated sigh and tossed the spoon into the sink.

“No.”

Eight leaped back, recoiling from the mayo-smeared utensil as if it were a living thing that would bite them.

“I’m just one lucky fuck, that’s all.”

“Pearlie.” Finishing up slicing an orange Marina waved Eight back to the table. “ _Language._ ”

Pearl sent her an incredulous look over the top of her half empty jar of mayonnaise. 

“You’re shitting me. The Octokid’s sixteen, Reena.”

“Yes they are.” Marina agreed.

“And they don’t need to be picking up bad habits less than four hours after arriving in Inkopolis. Here.” She added, sliding a plate of fruit Eight’s way.

“These should get rid of that mouth feel. Don’t worry if some of them seem to sting you, that’s called ‘tanginess’ and ‘zest’ and they’re just harmless flavors you find in some non-processed foods. Just be careful not to eat too many at once.”

Immediately Pearl’s mood did a one eighty. She cackled. “Oh yeah! I remember the first time you had an orange!”

Marina made a face as Pearl turned to Eight, grinning hugely.

“A whole f- Uh- freaking tree’s worth of fruit, down the hatch in one evening.” She said gleefully as Eight leaned in, looking slightly terrified.

“Then up all night groaning and cursing in Octarian. For a bit I was worried she was having some kind of allergic reaction, but then she threw up a few times, and after that she started feeling better. Just had too much a of a good thing!”

Face met palm as Marina propped an elbow on the table and slumped over it, defeated. “Thank you for sharing that. Everyone loves to hear those kind of stories  _while they are trying to eat._ ”

Pearl shrugged, grin still firmly in place.

“Gotta keep it real, yo. Would suck if Eight was sick their very first night above ground.”

“I agree with the sentiment.” Marina groaned. “But _not_ with your methods.”

Eight glanced between them and then eyed the plate of fruit suspiciously. They rolled their tongue in their mouth, winced, shot a baleful look over at the jar of mayo- and finally picked a slice of apple, lifting it gingerly with the tips of their claws.

Tentatively they took a very tiny, very cautious nibble. 

The look of dumbfounded wonder that broke across their face was something Marina knew she’d never forget.

_Less than one percent out of the entire Octoling population have any idea what fresh fruit tastes like._

Guilt squirmed in Marina’s stomach. The scent of sliced apple and orange, normally so refreshing, only made the queasiness worse. She pinched hard at the bridge of her nose, trying to suppress it.

“-And that’s _two_ for team cold breakfast!”

There was a simulated camera click from across the table.

Pearl had her phone out and was documenting Eight's reaction, but her eyes were on Marina. One of her eyebrow lifted questioningly.

Marina smiled and sat up straight again, internally forbidding herself from getting distracted from this moment. They had just saved Inkopolis and the world. Eight had made it to the surface, they were getting to experience life above ground for the very first time, everything else could wait for a few days.

... especially since it had already been left waiting for nearly two years.

 

* * *

 

Having trouble relaxing after almost watching the world end was normal. The only one to get any real sleep over the next week was Eight, and that was more a case of collapsing as all the tension and stress finally caught up with them- Helped by the fact that they'd been spending most of every day stumbling around Inkopolis trying to take everything in.

For everyone else though sleeping was proving to be a bit of a problem. So Marina didn’t think it was too strange, the hours she was spending lying awake staring up at the dim shadows of her and Pearl’s bedroom ceiling.

She didn’t think about why it was happening. And she tried not to think too much _while_ it was happening.

_When you left you also left all of them behind._

Thoughts crept in anyway.

_Eight was down there for two years while you were playing DJ._

The truth in those words made Marina squirm.

_Some Octolings might be finding their way out but only a fraction even got to hear the Inkantation-_

“Hey.”

Soft fingers brushed Marina’s cheek, startling her out of her thoughts.

“ _I’m_  the one who’s supposed to wiggle around in bed for ages.” Joked Pearl, voice raspy from sleep. “What’s keeping you up?”

Marina almost said ‘nothing’, almost said ‘go back to sleep’. But then she made the mistake of glancing over at her girlfriend, and even in the semi-dark of their room, the worry in Pearl’s eyes was impossible to miss.

A new wave of guilt washed over her.

She was so lucky to have this.

Her new life in Inkopollis yes, but more than that she was lucky to be able to share that life with someone who cared.

Even after all the secrets. Even after the truth had come out from someone else, and Pearl had said she always suspected but there was so much of a difference between having suspicions and having them proved true. Especially when the truth was you were dating a former enemy soldier. Someone who used to build war weapons meant to destroy your home and everyone in it.

Pearl was still here though. Worrying about Marina. Trying to help.

And it was only though luck that Marina had happened to hear the Inkantation and been given the chance to stumble across her on Mt.Nantai. She could have so easily gone her entire life without ever meeting Pearl…

_Just like Eight could have stayed trapped in Octo Valley for the rest of theirs._

_Just like the rest of the Octatrians still were._

Turning over Marina pressed her face to Pearl’s chest.

“Reena?”

Arms wrapped around her. Marina curled in closer, trying to just listen to the strong heartbeats echoing through Pearl’s chest and blot out everything else. Bit by bit her breathing slowed until it matched the one rushing underneath her ear.

“Hey, c’mon.” Pearl’s hand rubbed soothingly at her back. “You’re starting to freak me out a little. Bad dream? Bad thoughts? You gotta help me out here.”

Marina’s gut twisted again. The irony of Pearl asking for help even though _she_  was the one trying to _give_ help almost made her want to cry.

“It… It can wait until morning.”

Marina said finally, the mumble muffled against Pearl’s tank top. 

“After Eight heads off for the day. We both need sleep and I still need to think about it for a bit…”

She felt Pearl take a deep breath, could almost hear the protest teetering at the tip of the Inkling’s tongue. “… okay.” The word came out as a sigh.

“We’ll sleep now and have whatever’s bothering you for breakfast. Sound good?”

Marina nodded mutely.

She’d said she’d needed time to think but that had just been an excuse to try and let Pearl sleep. For herself there wouldn’t be any sleeping tonight.

She had already made her decision.

 

* * *

 

“You want to WHAT?”

It was exactly the reaction Marina had been expecting.

Or well, almost exactly. Pearl’s spit-take had been an unpleasantly soggy, and pulpy, surprise.

“I’m going back to Octo Valley.”

Marina repeated, dabbing up sprayed orange juice with a napkin as Pearl gaped at her.

“And, I’m going to need some help.” She looked hesitantly across the table. “If that’s okay..?”

Pearl thumped back against her chair.

“Of course you’re getting help.” She muttered, still looking a bit like she’d been hit upside the head with a Salmonid’s frying pan.

“You seriously think I’m gonna just sit back while my partner goes running around in a underground fortress full of soldiers and big-ass weapons and shit?” The very idea got an incredulous snort. “If you didn’t ask for help I’d be hunting you down and burying you in it anyway.”

A jittery laugh whooshed past Marina’s lips- She slumped back in her seat, suddenly boneless with relief.

“I might have worried about that. Maybe once.” She admitted shyly. “Or twice. One downside to being an engineer is the habit of imagining all the worst scenarios.”

“Well cut that out when it comes to me.” Grumbled Pearl.

“Skip to telling me why the fresh fuck you wanna go back there. It’s just full of a literal army of DJ whatever’s diehard fans and all the other mind-controlled people who wouldn’t be happy to see you again, right? So what’re we tryin’ to do once you get  _down_  there?”

“I-”

A glitter caught in the corner of Marina’s eye. Glancing down she saw her spoon, still perfectly clean where it waited by a bowl of now soggy cereal.

There was a small reflection in the polished metal. Marina smiled when she saw it.

“I’m going to do what I should have done years ago.”

 

* * *

 

**Agent 1 >** WE ARE IN! We are so totally in!!

**MC.Princess >** Told you so

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** Have you asked Marie already? Is she there with you?

**Agent 1 >** Pfft I don’t have to ask

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** Um

**Agent 1 >** Since the whole ‘me getting brainwashed’ thing she’s been hunting for any excuse for us to spend time together. I think she’s scared I’ll vanish again the moment I’m out of sight or something

**MC.Princess >** Duuude

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** That’s… really sad to hear, actually.

**Agent 1 >** SO she’ll freaking SUPER JUMP at the chance to team up again I tell ya! Just tell us when!

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** Well…

 

* * *

 

Shrugging into the chest plate Marina thanked cod for adjustable straps.

She’d been sixteen and a few inches shorter when it’d been issued to her, and while altering it wouldn’t be hard, it _would_ mean another delay. Now she’d made her choice every moment spent prepping instead of doing was like mental mayonnaise being spread across her brain- Slimy, filmy, and unbearable.

It was one thing to decide on going back. To list the reasons why she needed to go and commit to it.

It was just important she didn’t spend too much time thinking about what it would really be like once she was there. If she did she would get nervous, or more nervous anyway, and jumpy nerves would be a liability.

Snugging her armor on tight Marina took a few deep breaths to make sure she could, and also to calm the little tremors threating to take over her hands.

Putting her Octarian gear back on felt so strange.

Sure she’d spent her first few weeks aboveground wearing it due to lack of having anything else, but those early days had been such a blur of strange new wonders. She couldn’t for the life of her remember what it’d been like, this mix of new and old…

“Ah…”

Marina almost jumped out of her skin.

“Eight!?”

Spinning around she found the younger Octoling standing right where they had been a week ago, hovering uncertainly at the closet’s doorway.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Forcing herself to smile Marina tried to tell her thundering hearts they could stop racing now, thank you very much. “I thought you were still out exploring with Three and Four. Is everything okay?”

Eight’s met her eye hesitantly, then glanced down at something behind her.

Their hands clenched into fists. An tense look crept over their face, as if they were arguing silently with themselves.

Marina waited patiently.

She remembered that part too, the struggle of not only learning to think for herself but getting used to expressing it instead of just letting Octavio’s music wash the jarring notes of independence away.

After a minute or two Eight’s hands relaxed.

They stretched them out, reaching past Marina to touch the armor they’d only just been able to take off.

“I thought it was finally the end...” The young Octoling whispered softly. “…But I’ll face it all again in a heatsbeat- for a friend.”

For a moment Marina couldn’t even breathe.

“… Thank you.”

Eight smiled shyly and tried to pick up their bundle of Octarian gear.

A tap to the back of their wrist stopped them. Eight looked up in confusion as Marina gently nudge their hands off the armor.

“I had a job in mind for you already, actually.” Marina hoped even a third of the warmth she was feeling showed in her own smile. “And for that gig all you be needing is a set of headphones.”

Eight blinked and tilted their head at her, curious.

 

* * *

 

Pearl was fidgeting with Marina’s combat goggles, turning them over and over in her hands.

“They sure caught on quick, huh?”

She nodded at Eight as the Octoling poked at Marina’s turntables, their intense expression brightening every now and then as they found a new beat or sound mix.

Marina laughed before going back to tripling checked her inktank.

“Me being an engineering specialist at thirteen might have been unusual, but every Octoling is trained to be capable with technology.” She explained. “We have to be, living underground in an artificial environment that could to turn into a deathtrap if it’s core systems ever failed.”

Pearl blanched. “Sweet crustacean no shit. Cod.” Her fidgeting sped up a notch.

Marina pretended not to notice. She was technically fidgeting too, only she could hide it by taking out her laptop and making certain it was fully charged… for the fifth time in the last half hour.

“So.” Pearl said after a few awkward beats, her voice full of forced casualness. “You’re like, super sure you don’t want me to come with..?”

Marina’s hands slipped. She had to make a quick grab to keep from dropping her computer.

Pearl cracked a wry smile. “I guess that’s ‘no’, right.”

Looking frantically over Marina tried to nod and shake her head at the same time. “No- Yes! I mean, I don’t mean that the way it sounds when you say it like that-”

“Dude.  _Chill._ ”

Smile turning more genuine, Pearl playfully bumped the steel toe of Marina’s boot with her sneaker.

“I was just asking for my own dumb conscience’s sake. I get why it’s better if we send the ex-elite soldier on her own, you won’t have to worry about keeping an eye on anyone else and can just focus on being badass.”

“But I  _do_  want you to come.”

A second too late Marina tried to bite back the words.

They were out there now though and Pearl had gone completely still, hands frozen mid-fidget, eyes wide and puzzled.

Marina sighed.

Well, now that she’d gone and said it...

“… I’m just too scared.” She whispered, keeping her voice low in case Eight took their headphones off at exactly the wrong moment.

“The guards might hesitate before shooting at me. I’m clearly one of them, an Octoling dressed as a decorated officer.” She reached up to touch the seaweed strands dangling from her old goggles. “And even once they attack, as a fellow Octoling their ink won’t hurt me as fast as it would an Inkling. But if  _you_  go down there-”

Marina heard herself break off.

She’d seen it happen once.

While field testing her improvements to the Flooder, a young squid had wandered into the valley and been herded into place by a patrol. It had been a rare chance to watch her work in the real world instead of just through a simulation.

She had not blinked once during the ten seconds of panicked screaming that had followed.

“If you got hit…”

There hadn’t been much left afterwards. Just some clothes and baseball cap with what she now knew was the Squid Sister’s logo on it.

“…”

She suddenly felt sick.

Swallowing back down the bile Marina stared down at her computer.

The background was an old pic, at an odd angle and slightly blurry. It showed her, Octarian goggles pushed up on her forehead as she beamed, and Pearl, the then metalhead’s lip and eyebrow piercings standing out sharp against her wide grin.

“You saved me, Pearlie.” Marina needed her to understand. “The Inkantation freed my spirit but I still didn’t have a home. Not until I met you.”

When Marina looked up she saw a Pearl who wasn’t grinning and who actually looked a bit sick herself.

“So, while I want you to come with me, I  _need_  you to stay here. And-” Trying for a weak smile Marina tucked a thumb in Eight’s direction.

“They need you too, now. We can’t both go off just barely a week-and-a-half after promising to watch out for them.”

Her weak smile was not infectious.

“… yeah. Yeah, I get it.”

Pearl rubbed at her face with one hand. Just out of stress or to hide the strange brightness of her eyes, Marina didn’t dare ask.

“Look just, pretend you’re me when you’re down there, okay?”

Marina blinked. “Pretend I’m..?”

A tug pulled her before her could finish. Pearl leaned up, and Marina shut her eyes as she felt a quick press of a kiss- To her forehead, the bridge of her nose, and then her lips, where Pearl lingered for a moment.

Then the kiss ended and Marina felt their pressed their foreheads together.

“…You weren’t the only one saved that day on Nantai, you know.” Pearl’s voice sounded as hoarse. Like it used to back when she made a habit of screaming into the empty air for hours.

Marina wrenched her eyes back open, hearts skipping in her chest.

“I wouldn’t have a home anywhere in the world. Not if you couldn’t be there with me.”

From this close the damp trails on Pearl’s cheeks couldn’t be hidden. Neither could the way her breath hitched for a second.

A pang rang through Marina. “Pearl-”

“Just be fucking  _careful_  down there.” Her girlfriend grit out. “I know this is important and shit and I’m glad you’re doing it, but I’ll be pissed at you forever if you don’t come back in one piece.”

Cracking open one eye Pearl shot her a fierce glare.

“So NO getting hurt. You got that?”

Marina answered with a quick kiss of her own.

“I’ll try my best, Pearlie. I promise.”

“Good.”

Pearl looped the goggles over Marina’s head and then broke away, heels thumping back to the floor as Marina straightened up.

There was a start from the other side of the room- They both looked around as Eight whipped back to the turntable’s controls, the Octokid reacting just in time to not be caught staring. The flushed tips of their ears still gave them away, though.

Marina blushed. Pearl snickered.

“…You’d think they’d be used to catching us at it by now.”

“ _Pearl!_ ”

 

* * *

 

**Agent 1 >** We’re ready!

**Agent 2 >** callie its gonna be another like, five to ten hours before we even have anything to do

**Agent 1 >** And when that time comes we’re gonna be soooo ready!!

**Agent 2 >** jellyfishus

**Agent 2 >** @  **DJ_Hyperfresh**  are YOU ready?

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** No.

**Agent 8 >** ‘oAo`

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** But I think we’ve done everything we can to prepare, so hopefully me not being ready shouldn’t matter.

**MC.Princess >** Cod you suck at hyping yourself up

**MC.Princess >** Come on DJ Hyperfresh, aka The Invisible Not-Flying Chicken Nugget And Pickle Eater, aka DJ Epic Fantasy. Say that you’ve got this!

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** I have five minutes before the gap in the patrol closes.

**MC.Princess >** Bzzt. Try again.

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** I have some really good friends backing me up?

**Agent 8 >** :D

**Agent 1 >** Awwww~

**Agent 2 >** i mean it’s true

**MC.Princess >** Yeah yeah very cute. But you’re supposed to be hyping YOU up, not us! Just pretend we’re doing a Splatfest!

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** I’ll have you watching out for me the whole time?

**MC.Princess >** Every step of the way. Promise <3

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** Thanks Pearlie…

**Agent 2 >** uhh does this chat need to become private??

**Agent 1 >** @  **Agent 2**  SHHH!!!!!

**MC.Princess >** Say it with me now!

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** I’ve got this.

**MC.Princess >** YO!!!

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** And mission ‘Return to Octo Valley’ is a go!

**Agent 3 >** good luck

**Agent 1 >** KICK ASS!

**Agent 8 >** b

**Agent 2 >** yeah. 4 says good luck too

**CraigCuttlefish >** good luck young lady

**Agent 2 >** gramps?!

**Agent 1 >** GRAMPS

**DJ_Hyperfresh >** Thank you. Just, really…. Thank you everyone. See you all in a bit.

_[Webmaster] >_  **DJ_Hyperfresh**  has left the chat room

 

* * *

  _Here and Now_

* * *

 

 Yes. That’s why she was here suffocating in the dark. She'd come because of Eight and thanks to the help of her friends. She’d come back for everyone else she’d left behind two years ago…

And she was here for herself. Because  _this_  was the kind of person she wanted to be.

Not a soldier or a weapons designer trained to kill, but someone who saved lives and changed them for the better. Just like her life had been changed.

Speaking of which-

_“Let’s do it again alright.”_ Pearl’s voice hummed in her ear. _“In for four, hold for five, and out for eight, just like always. Just breath with me- In. One. Two. Three..”_

Marina didn’t keep count of how many times they went through it.

It seemed to take hours and only the blink of an eye, then suddenly she realized she wasn’t being crushed. The bubble in her chest had almost gone, her lungs listened when she asked them to breathe, and when she opened her eyes she found they’d adjusted to the glow of her laptop screen.

The darkness wasn’t solid anymore. It was normal again. Manageable.   

_“It’s okay.”_ Pearl was saying steadily. _“You’re almost there, remember? You’ve got this.”_

Almost there, Marina repeated to herself. Almost there.

“… okay.”

_“Okay? Okay, good.”_ The relief came through loud and clear. She heard a matching sigh in the background. _“So you’re good?_

Marina nodded.

“I’m good.”

_“Agents Three through Eight are ready to roll out if you want company.”_

“No.” She didn’t even want to think about Eight having come down here. “I’ve, I’ve got this.”

_“Yeah you do.”_

Under the relief was something stronger. Something even firmer and more grounding than the alloy floor Marina was sitting on.

Maybe it was belief.

_“Which means it’s your show now, DJ. Time to hype them the fuck up!”_

In a normal show that tone would be Marina’s cue to turn on the speakers and give Pearl some beats for her opening warmup.

Here there was nothing to do except flick her mic back on again, reboot the coms, and speak.

 

* * *

 

 

“This is the truth.”

The distant yells wavered and started petering out.

“The truth is none of you have ever seen the sky.” Marina said, doing her best to ignore how the words wavered and shook.

“You’ve never felt fresh air, or- or watched a sunset, or heard leaves rustling in a forest. The simulations you grew up with don’t compare with the real thing- There is so much  _more_  to life than what’s down here. There is so much more to all of  _you_  than you’ve _ever_  been allowed to imagine…”

The script, she tried to remember it. What she’d planned to say, something rousing and triumphant, something to start chipping away at the lingering echoes of Octavio’s music.

Instead she just sounded desperate. More like she was pleading with them rather than encouraging.

“You don’t know what the world is actually like out there.” She pushed on anyway. “And you don’t know what Inklings are really like, either.

All domes were quiet now. She could picture them, Octarians and Octolings huddled in groups, soldiers clutching their weapons and engineers their tools, officers just as paralyzed as the cadets. All of them scared. All of them waiting for whatever would come next.

Pearl was also silent on the line but Marina could feel her there. Listening. Smiling. 

“I think it’s time you were all given the same chance that I was.”

It was enough to make Marina smile too, just a little.

“Please… Please listen to this.”

With the press of a button she switched the audio over, connecting all the underground domes with the reformed Squid Sisters waiting thousands of feet overhead.

For the third time the Calamari Inkantation rang out through the deeps of Oco Valley.

This time though everyone would hear it.

And this time they would  _all_  be able to choose it they wanted to follow Marina when she headed back to the surface and into the light.

 

* * *

 

_“Congrats DJ Hyperfresh, aka Tech Goddess Wizard, aka Best DJ Ever And Octavio-Butt Can Suck It!”_ The jubilant shout made her ears sting a little as it blasted through her headphones. _"Mission ‘bring sick beats to the underground’ is a SUCCESS!”_

Oh Pearl...

Sitting back with a sigh Marina pressed the headphones on tighter, wishing she could fall right through them and into the arms of the Inkling on the other end.

“Is everything going okay up there?” She asked, the idea of something going wrong not making nearly as anxious as she’d thought it would. “No problems with the equipment?”

_“Naw it’s cool. Eight’s got all the sound stuff under control.”_

There was a light smacking sound of flesh on flesh and a surprised yelp. Marina’s smile widened. She could perfectly picture Pearl giving poor Eight a cheerful punch to the arm.

“ _How about with you?”_ Pearl volleyed back.  _“Ready to head home? I’ve been missing you like crazy.”_

Marina laughed- Something she’d never thought would happen while she was down here.

“It’s only been half a day, Pearlie.”

_“Well it feels for-fucking-EVER! Come save me before I flop over and die from neglect or whatever!”_

“Pfft, okay, okay. Give me a minute.”

_“Uuuugh.”_

Still giggling softly Marina checked the Octo Valley mainframe and set the rest of the systems, now sans Octavio’s recordings or any trace of them, to start up again in a few minutes. Then shut her laptop and slipped her goggles back on.

She couldn’t ignore the fact that she was still underground, in the dark, in a world that was currently dead and that she’d thought she’d never have to come back to. Not even the sound of the Calamari Inkantation could blot out the stone walls or the cracks the simulation screens would normally have hidden.

Everything was still exactly the same as it had been. It just didn’t seem to matter as much anymore.

_“Yo you’re minute’s up, where’s my girlfriend already? I gotta give her a victory kiss and double check she didn’t lose any limbs!”_

“Copy that.” Marina rolled her eyes fondly. “Girlfriend moving to rendezvous as we speak.”

As she starting the long jog down the corridor it felt more like she was following Pearl’s voice to the surface rather than any map. “Also, your girlfriend she thinks her super fresh helper has more than earned a victory kiss of her own.”

_“Well shit then.”_ Pearl chuckled. _“I guess I gotta bump yours up to two.”_

“Are you making this into a contest? Seriously?”

_“Yep. And it’s three now.”_

“Pearl…”

_“Four. We’ve reached four kisses for the cute Octoling!”_

“Pearlie!”

_“Better start running or it’s gonna be five.”_

When Marina did break into a run it had nothing to do with the number of ‘threatened’ kisses. It didn’t even have anything to do with the darkness or bleak memories she was leaving behind here.

Her friends were waiting for her. Eight was waiting for her. Pearl was waiting for her…

She was going  _home._

And she knew she’d be smiling like an idiot every step of the way.


End file.
